Pages

Categories

Thawing Out…

March 3, 2009 — Danimal

As I’ve said before, I don’t like heavy snow. No real trouble getting to/from the city today, or even major delays. But seeing that much snow pile up in the driveway or the backyard honestly isn’t pretty at all. Belke, if you’re planning to settle around here permanently, I promise you this is not that typical for March. Neither are temperatures near zero. More like every several years to a decade, maybe more. But hey, for all I know, it may not snow here again until November. Maybe even beyond that.

Quick shout-out to Trevor. Crain’s says that his employer is the best company to work for in Chicago, and he’s in their photo. I hope my other friends out there see their offices on the list now or in the future, but for now, Trevor gets some bragging rights.

Lastly, I thought YES’ promos for the US National Team’s World Baseball Classic tuneup against the Yankees were a little weird. Basically about Derek Jeter playing against his club team. Who honestly cares? It’s an exhibition to get both teams ready for their respective campaigns. On the other hand, I saw those promos because I was watching YES/MLB’s profile of legendary manager Casey Stengel tonight (who won seven World Series titles between 1949-1960, including an unbelievable five in a row which I can’t imagine anyone will do again). Nice job showing the Stengel beyond his often strange public pronouncements (known as “Stengelese“). He was apparently really bright- not just in a baseball sense, either- and gave it to his players if they weren’t playing up to his standards. And he could sure play hunches well, not least in giving the ball to Don Larsen on that fateful day in 1956. Although not giving the ball to Whitey Ford to start Game 1 in the 1960 World Series meant he wasn’t available in Game 7. Pittsburgh won that series, and Stengel’s Yankee-tenure ended soon after. One more title would have broken the team record for managers that he shares with Joe McCarthy. With Joe Torre finishing his run with four, and with baseball much more competitive than it used to be (in Stengel’s heyday, there was no amateur draft, no free agency, and only eight teams in each league), I’d be stunned if any manager comes close to seven again, much less win eight.

If it isn’t already, this mark will join records like DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, Cy Young’s 511 wins and 316 losses, Nap Lajoie’s single-season .426 batting average (plus Ty Cobb’s career .366 average), and maybe even Nolan Ryan’s seven no-hitters as totals highly unlikely to be broken, if not outright impossible (largely because, as with McCarthy and Stengel’s titles, lots of records were set in a different era of baseball).

Ahh, the new season is getting closer. You could spend a long time debating and relieving baseball’s history and stats, but there’s no substitute for real games…